Today I welcome to my online temple, iX-Chel Sandivel. A gorgeous woman from L.A, whom I connected with earlier this year, by our mutual love of all things sacred feminine, sensuality & sacred sexuality, tantra. iX-Chel is a fully embodied priestess & women’s empowerment coach, blazing the way for exquisite feminine freedom. Today I invited her to speak into the power of being a womb centred woman connected to our menstrual cycle, the importance of this connection in connection to the feminine & to our sacred sexuality.

Guest Post by iX-Chel Sandivel

It was 2009 at Burning Man and I had just walked into my first moon lodge tipi for women on their moon cycle. It was a surreal, still and sacred space that I had already dreamed of, but had somehow forgotten. I had never experienced this in the physical realm before, yet there was something ancient and familiar about it. I felt like I had time traveled into a different dimension in which this ritual was already a regular part of my life.

This tipi provided a space for women on their moon to rest, relax, and restore themselves during their most powerful time of the month. Women were lying around, napping, reading women’s empowerment books and sharing nurturing wisdom in soft whispers. The energy was so yummy and super feminine it just burst my heart and womb wide open. Little did I know that I was moments away from hearing my first lecture on the powerful wisdom encoded in a woman’s moon cycle, especially when all the women in a tribe honor this sacred time portal together. The woman leading the talk was one of the most beautiful elder women I had ever seen. Next to her were her recommended books on women’s empowerment. Amongst these precious books, I saw a photo of her holding an eagle. This wild woman was something else!

It was in this sacred tipi that I first received the downloads about how women back in the tribal days would bleed together, synchronized to each other and to the new or full moon. It was only during this time (up to 3 days) that they were excused from daily responsibilities like food preparation and child rearing. Imagine that worldwide today, 3 billion women taking 3 days off a month! This was a time of deep feminine restoration and receptivity. The first three days of a woman’s bleeding was a time when they would come together as a feminine collective to receive visions for their whole tribe for the next 28 day lunar cycle. This was the time when their psychic abilities and intuition was the clearest and strongest. Learning about this all made sense to my body, sprit, and emotions. This knowledge was re-awakened within me and since then I have been cultivating and embodying a sacred relationship with my moon cycle. I am forever grateful for receiving my first moon priestess downloads from the amazing elder Priestess Laurel Kitten, who I would link to if she wasn’t so under the radar.

Embodying the wisdom encoded in my moon cycle has been quite a journey. Before I share my most recent moon rituals and related stories, I want to share with you a life changing moon story that happened before my conscious divine feminine moon awakening. It illustrates that the power and wisdom of the moon is available to us whether we believe in it, or are conscious of it, or not.

This moon story is about one of the most pivotal times in my life as a self-healer and elite runner! It was 2006 and I was running along a river in Northern Italy. In the middle of my 8 mile run, I was in so much pain and agony, I had to stop. It was a kind of pain that I had never experienced in my 30,000 mile plus competitive long distance running career. A pain that I will always remember because it was the first pain that I couldn’t run through, despite my high pain tolerance. I was running on my moon cycle, which was quite ordinary for me as a competitive runner, to run on my period. The thought of stopping because I was in pain was foreign and weird. During these highly competitive days, I only stopped during my run if I came to a red light or had to use the bathroom. This kind of masculine competitive mentality was taking over my life. I had been injured for 4 years and my masculine self had me running through pain, therefore never fully healing and restoring myself, which was stopping me from achieving my goals. This happened before I had my divine feminine moon awakening and discovered the power and wisdom of the moon cycle.

My moon was shouting at me and telling me to stop and restore myself. My body was exhausted by always “doing” and literally running after goals and was now telling me that it was time to simply “be”, and embrace myself fully as a woman and not just an athlete. On my moon, I claimed for the very first time, no longer being a victim of my own circumstances. The intense pain I was experiencing from the poor decision of having for so long not listened to my body, and having run through so many other pains, left me feeling a lack of deep feminine restoration.

I stopped for a few moments and repeated to myself that I was no longer a victim of my circumstances and that I would heal and restore my body so I would qualify to compete in nationals the following year (After four years of struggling with other running related injuries I had just one year left of college to finally make it to nationals). It was at that moment that I invoked the enhanced power of manifestation available to a woman on her moon cycle, whether she is aware of it or not. I told myself that as soon as I passed a specific tree that I picked out in my minds eye, 100 feet ahead of me, I would no longer experience any pain. I started running towards the tree as if in a dream and as soon as I crossed the designated tree portal I felt like I had run through a vortex into a bubble of a billion possibilities. My pain completely disappeared and was replaced by a feeling of ecstasy and empowerment. It was like I had stepped into a fantasy movie!

I would only fully understand this moment 3 years later after my moon lodge tipi initiation and miraculously with the power of intuition, intention, and menstruation I manifested a restorative and strong body. The following year while on my moon cycle I qualified for nationals in the 10,000 meters, which was something unheard of for someone being injured for 4 years straight. Although I wasn’t aware about the potent power available during my moon at this time, I remember this day vividly and clearly as I reflect on my moon journeys.

In that pivotal running moment on my moon, it was clear to me that I needed to take full responsibility for my body, healing, and feminine restoration. The moon cycle is a time for women to look at what’s hurting them in their lives so that they can make responsible choices for themselves whether it’s dietary, spiritual, lifestyle and/or physical activity upgrades. This kind of honoring and restoring is beyond anything else I’ve experienced in terms of manifestation, restoration, and healing potency. My connection and relationship to the moon cycle continues to refine itself over time. It feels like alchemy, transmuting the base metal of pain into the gold of potent insight, intuition, healing and pleasurable restoration. Some rituals stay the same while others expand into more specific and refined rituals.

My rituals can be as simple as taking the first day off for myself and doing whatever it is the wisdom of my body and intuition feels I need to do during this time. Other rituals include rose baths, having my favorite raw chocolate and treats, turning off my phone, writing and more. To see the 13 rituals I usually do on the first day of my moon please watch this video I created for this post: “What to do on the first day of your period/ moon cycle” (will email link in a few minutes). Check it out and drop your comments below the video!

Connecting to my moon cycle is connecting to my deepest essence of who I am as a woman; an emotional, physical, spiritual and mental body all deeply connected to an effortless intelligence that understands what is best for my evolution as a woman embodying the wisdom of her moon cycle. When I shifted my perspective about my moon cycle, everything shifted, including my sexuality. I went from dreading a painful time, to looking forward to the most ecstatic time ever, that I now call “moonstacy = (moon + ecstasy).”

One of my most memorable sexual healing experiences, happened during my moon cycle. It must have been the power of combining two taboo subjects; sex and blood. Earlier this year after a several month period of intentional celibacy, while I was on my moon, it totally hit me like a bolt of lightning that I needed to have sex, NOW! And so on my moon I had one of the most exquisite love making sessions ever with a new lover. Asking my friend and soon to be lover, that I needed a particular kind of love and exchange with him, was one of the most intimate and vulnerable things I have ever done. Since then we’ve become best friends and are now diving into having a deep tantric union and relationship. To read more about this “moonstacy” episode, click here.

What this all bleeds down to, is this; Women can transform painful periods into powerful & ecstatic moon cycles, period! If you’re a goddess ready to make this shift, or a knight ready to support it, congratulations! Starting December 28th, I’m leading a 3-month group coaching program for women!

Women will:

-no longer dread your moon cycle. period.

-learn about moon rituals, tips and tricks that can help you experience new levels of joy.

-receive support and guidance in claiming your moon cycle wisdom and power.

As women gate keepers of this wisdom and men holding the space for the actualization of this wisdom, I invite you to open yourself up to your divine moon role. For any knights who would like to gift this coaching program to a moon goddess, please send me an email to inquire about my scholarship fund.

About iX-Chel Sandivel

iX-CheL SandiveL is a women’s empowerment coach, blazing the way for exquisite feminine freedom. She leads events for men & women based on Tantra with an exotic twist. Most known for her “Sensual Surrender Play Shop for Women” where women experience embracing their creative life force energy, and learn to play a dominant role at the “Dakini Domme Knight Masquerade Puja.” These events are the start of an 8 week coaching program and embodiment journey!